EBL TARGETS TO EXPORT 2.8M LITRES BEER TO SA

MBABANE – The Eswatini Beverages Limited (EBL) is set to gain from the fast-growing beer demand in South Africa.

EBL Country Director Doreen Tumureebire has shared that towards the end of last year, they were able to sort out some issues that were hindering the company’s ambition to export to South Africa (SA). Tumureebire said as such their ambition for this year is to export at least 28 000 hectoliters or 2.8 million litres of beer to the neighbouring SA. She said that this translated to E30 million and E10 million of that goes to tax. The director stated that they had already sent 5 000 hectoliters to SA since the beginning of the year and aimed to increase that and reach the 28 000 hectoliters target. She said that specifically, they were exporting Carling Black Label beer which was currently in high demand in South Africa. She stated that due to that high demand, SA brewers were not able to meet the demand and then EBL has come forward to say they have the capacity to produce more.

Reduction

Tumureebire said in order to be able to export more to South Africa they have called for the reduction of the export levy as other countries like Mozambique had less which makes them able to export to SA, unlike Eswatini. It is worth noting, that in 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev reported record volumes, whereby a 20 per cent revenue growth in the sales of its flagship Carling Black Label beer was behind its success in SA, which along with higher prices, helped contribute to the group growing its revenue 13.2 per cent to US$14.2 billion (about R260 billion) to end March. The director added that they had opportunities to do more; they just needed to partner with government to forge way forward. She further mentioned that overall; the company has shown increase in terms of volumes and revenues. She also touched on the company’s latest digitisation strategy which has a focal point on automation and mobile payment platforms which were flexible with most integration to deliver automated systems.

The company recently announced its partnership with MTN Eswatini and Standard Bank in eliminating the handling of cash between itself as a product supplier and vendors. Tumureebire said it was imperative that they encouraged their customers to register and start using these payment solutions. “We all know the advantages of new technologies and mobile payment systems. Using these systems saves you time because you do not need to go to a bank,” she said. “A transaction can be done conveniently anywhere. The systems are safe to use and generally eliminate the handling of cash and associated risks.” The first female EBL head further highlighted that inasmuch as they were looking forward to growing the industry, they were equally concerned about the negative reports about alcohol abuse.

She said in order to address that, they were still trying to educate consumers about the dangers of alcohol abuse and underage drinking. He said they would be conducting more roadshows to educate and caution users on issues of drink and driving and selling to underage groups. Meanwhile, recent data indicated that EBL paid a whooping E250 million in taxes in 2022, as the corporate giant continued to contribute significantly to the local economic growth. The Oxford Economics study on Eswatini’s economic beer impact revealed that two per cent of the country’s national tax revenue came from economic activity linked to the beer industry.

Revenue

It stated that about E450 million was generated in the form of tax revenues from the beer business, which translated to about two per cent of government’s total revenue. The study further mentioned that the sector supported E970.2 million gross value added (GVA) contribution to Eswatini’s gross domestic product (GDP) in a year. This is equal to 1.2 per cent of national GDP or 7.8 per cent of Mbabane’s economy. Of the E970.2 million, E826.2 million comes from Eswatini Beverages Limited and E144 million from the downstream value chain created in the beer industry. A breakdown of the E338.4 million generated revenue shows that the largest chunk came from beer sales tax, E95.4 million from brewers and E18 million from the value chain.

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